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Greenway's play motioning toward solid ninth season

If Saturday night was any indication, Minnesota Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway is in a prime position to build off a successful 2013 campaign.

Coming off a three interception season a year ago, the Mount Vernon native picked up right where he left off in what is known as the "dress rehearsal" of the NFL preseason (the third game). Greenway picked off Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith in the red zone early in the second quarter, and the Vikings went on to beat the Chiefs 30-12.

Playing all the way into the third quarter of the contest, along with the rest of the Vikings starters, Greenway recorded one tackle to go with his interception.

But Greenway's performance goes beyond a simple box score. The ninth-year veteran was tasked with covering Travis Kelce at times throughout the night -- not an easy task considering Kelce has caught long touchdown passes in each of the Chiefs' last two preseason games -- and took away Smith's "hot" read to Kelce on several occasions. Greenway also dropped back into a lot of zone coverage, something that Vikings fans can expect to see often throughout the year.

Looking ahead to the 2014 campaign that kicks off in two weeks, Greenway could reach a milestone, as he sits at 899 career tackles and nine interceptions. If he has a similar season in 2014 as he did a season ago (134 combined tackles), Greenway could surpass the 1,000 tackle mark for his career.

The Vikings have one final preseason game on Thursday against the Tennessee Titans on the road.